


It's All in the Details

by Sage (sageness)



Series: DSSS 2012 is coming! [7]
Category: due South
Genre: M/M, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 21:23:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/602214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sageness/pseuds/Sage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"What the hell are you doing back there, Kowalski?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's All in the Details

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mergatrude](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mergatrude/gifts).



> To Mergatrude, for being wonderful! <3
> 
>  
> 
> (Oh, look, I'm supposed to be anonymous here. *anonymously dons Captain Obvious hat*)

[](http://ds-ssdiscussion.livejournal.com)

  
  


"What the hell are you doing back there, Kowalski?"

There was a muffled reply but nothing Ray could understand. It always made him nervous when Kowalski went all nutso with detailing the cars, especially the Riv. The Riv was Ray's baby, even if this one was the fifth in his unfortunate series. That only made it more important to keep her safe.

Kowalski's head popped up in the back seat. "How do you even fit back there?" Ray wondered aloud, and Kowalski shot him a dark grin through the open back window.

"Pull this up?" Kowalski said, pointing at the newly polished headrest. Ray positioned himself sideways in the front passenger seat, slipped his fingers underneath as Kowalski pressed the latch, and tugged the headrest up. Then Kowalski took a dirty rag from the floorboard, sprayed WD-40 on it, and then lubricated the steel rods. "Done," he ordered, thumbing the latch, and Ray pressed the headrest back to its correct height.

"And there are my fingerprints all over it," Ray lamented.

"Here." Kowalski brandished a second rag from the floorboard, this one clean, and Ray buffed the not-actually-real-leather-but-who-cared back to a soft green shine.

"You don’t have to do this, you know," Ray said after a moment of studiously not watching Kowalski lubricate the freaking fold-out ashtrays in the backseat.

Kowalski shrugged. "Call it a present."

"A present?"

He shrugged again and finally looked up and let Ray see the expression on his face. "Well, they said I could write something, but you know me and paperwork. And then they said I could draw something, but, yeah, not gonna happen." He made a face. "And I don’t know what the hell those vid things are. I mean, music videos have to come from somewhere—I get that—but that's like splicing video tape or something, right?"

Ray shrugged. He had no idea, either, but Kowalski looked positively edible, even if he did smell like a machine shop.

"So." Kowalski grinned. "Cars I can do."

Ray nodded. Cars he could definitely do, too. "This is great, really. Thank you," he said. "She looks better than…" he trailed off, thinking. "Yeah, okay, probably since I got her."

Kowalski laughed. "True that."

Ray tilted his head. "I mean it."

At that, Kowalski smiled in something far too close to surprise. "My pleasure."

"Are you about done?"

Kowalski smirked. "I am, yeah."

Ray stood up and folded the seat forward. "Well, then get the hell out of that back seat so I can thank you good and proper."

"You don't wanna see if we both fit?"

Kowalski in his backseat was a goddamned wet dream, no questions asked, but Ray had been too tall for those shenanigans twenty years ago and he sure as hell wasn't throwing his back out for them now.

"No?" Kowalski asked, not actually sounding disappointed.

"Nah, I know where we fit. Come on. I'm going to get you cleaned up and show you how big a fan I am of your work."

Kowalski contorted himself out of the backseat and into Ray's arms. "The fit's pretty good right here," he said and kissed him.

Ray kissed him back. "You are hilarious. Also, you reek of WD-40."

Kowalski looked up through his lashes. "Wash my back?"

Ray hummed as an involuntary shiver went through him. "Yeah, the shower is definitely one of those places we fit."

As they reached the door into the house, Ray stopped and looked back at the Riv. She really did look great. Kowalski had waxed her finish to such a high sheen that it looked like a lake you could fall right into. He must've been at it since dawn, and he knew what it meant when a man freely devoted hours to the care of another person's vehicle.

Ray took Kowalski's hand and squeezed it again. "Thank you." 

"Yeah, well." Kowalski ducked his head and his cheeks went pink as he tugged Ray inside.

  
  



End file.
